That is because such a large
percentage of the country’s natural resources is located in permafrost areas or
must be transported through them for use in the Russian economy or export and
because many of its military facilities are in this region as well, and the melting
of the permafrost could lead to the collapse of infrastructure, including
pipelines and powerlines.

In the Yamal Peninsula alone – the name
means “end of the earth” in the language of the local population – there have
been dozens of methane explosions over the last three years and “more than 700”
other sides are displaying warning signs, such as the swelling of the ground or
cracking of the earth, that explosions may occur in them as well in the near
future.

As The Siberian Times points out, “Yamal has the biggest concentration
of natural gas fields on the planet, and these can be threatened by exploding
ground.” And officials are worried: Aleksandr Mazharov, deputy head of the
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, notes that such explosions can occur “anywhere.”

One “might hit a technological
facility, a residential settlement or a linear object (a pipeline or a
railway),” he adds. Assuming that happens, Moscow’s ability to extract
resources from the region or maintain military facilities in it would be
compromised far sooner than anyone had expected.